Lately, I’ve been tapping into my assessment from forty years ago that female teens were intimidating, strange, and just a cause for worry. These days, I just can’t figure them out. Tuesday I asked the young miss, “It’s the last home volleyball match at ISU. Want to go?”

“I dunno.”

I reminded her on Thursday. Same mumbled answer.

Yesterday, my wife and I spent the afternoon picking through retail wreckage after the locusts descended on Black Friday. It was nice to spend a few hours with my wife. When I settled in at my desk at the parish a bit after 4 yesterday, I thought I’d get four, maybe five hours of Christmas planning, email catching-up, and the little stuff that didn’t happen this week. So after only a half-hour, I get a text from my daughter:

I do want to go to the game.

It’s not often I will get an offer like that from the young miss. Work can wait. It was a great match, especially for the home team.

about Todd Flowerday

A Roman Catholic lay person, married (since 1996), with one adopted child (since 2001). I serve in worship and spiritual life in a midwestern university parish.

about John Donaghy

John is a lay missionary since 2007 with a parish in western Honduras. Before that he served in campus ministry and social justice ministry in Iowa. His ministry blog is http://hermanojuancito.blogspot.com

He also blogs reflections on the lectionary and saints/heroes/events of the date at http://walktheway.wordpress.com

He'll be a long-term contributor here analyzing the Latin American bishops' document from their 2007 Aparecida Conference.